<p>lolabelle:
1st-I didnt say cut Tufts, I said I would drop one or two of them (for me tufts) in order to make the list more managable. Take a ****ing vicodin and calm down.
2nd-I dont go to UChicago</p>
<p>I think you have a great list and a good chance at all of them.
I would weigh a couple of your lower choices to make the list shorter.
I wanted to apply to a bunch of colleges but councilor limited me to 8. In retrospect, Im glad he did less work and I got into my first choice anyways so my time wasn't wasted.</p>
<p>If you're looking to narrow schools down/ change your options simply through surfing the net, I recommend you check out both the "official" admissions/ prospective students page, and the "unofficial" livejournal communities. You'll get both ends of the story here-- one written with you in mind, one written for students by students.</p>
<p>That's a really good list! You have pretty strong stats, but your SAT is only decent for many of the schools you are considering. You might want to take it again (I went from a ~2100 junior year to a 2280 with a bit of studying over the summer, and I think my high SATs in combination with my grades were major factors in my getting so much scholarship money). </p>
<p>To narrow down your list, think about whether you will get financial aid, and if not, if you can afford 50K a year for schools like G-Town, Chicago, Middlebury, etc. Even if you can afford it, if you will be taking out a lot of debt...is it worth it? These are questions that are tough to think about; you have to be very adult and try to remove the cloud of prestige. Although I got into many very good schools for my field, I concluded the value per dollar just didn't stack up. If you think you're not getting any finaid but don't want to stay in Wisconsin, I would suggest leaving schools like UofP and American on your list due to a high possibility of great merit aid.</p>
<p>The top-ten undergraduate feeder schools for PhDs in PoliSci (by percentage, not total numbers) are:</p>
<p>Swarthmore, Haverford, Reed, Princeton, U Chicago, St. John's, Tougaloo, Oberlin, US CG Academy, Amherst</p>
<p>Source: Weighted Baccalaureate Origins Study, Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium, 1992 to 2001. Some think this is meaningless, others find it indicative of quality preparation for advanced degrees.</p>
<p>vossron... interesting list. I looked up the other Weighted Baccalaurate numbers, but I could only find them hosted through other colleges' websites. Do you know if there's an official website for the organization?</p>
<p>People probably don't like these lists because they don't look at all like the USNWR rankings, and there's a bias towards science schools (easier to obtain a science PhD than an anthro or poly sci PhD). In either case, though, I think they're a good indicator of how many students love what they're learning so much that they choose to pursue it at a higher level.</p>
<p>
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Some think this is meaningless, others find it indicative of quality preparation for advanced degrees.
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</p>
<p>Vossron, I think it's less this and more what the above poster, Amykins wrote:</p>
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I think they're a good indicator of how many students love what they're learning so much that they choose to pursue it at a higher level.
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</p>
<p>Certainly! But the thing is, with a field like political science, a lot of people who study it at the undergraduate level do so not to become political science academics—which would lead to a political science PhD track—but to be practicing politicians, lawyers, journalists, international businesspeople, etc. which would lead them to JD degrees, international relations MAs, public policy MAs, journalism MAs, international business MBAs, or just political science MAs, etc. Also, political science is the quintessential liberal arts major—kids who major in it at the undergrad level can go on to a variety of different types of MAs or PhDs—philosophy is one that's probably popular.</p>
<p>I can't tell from your past post as to your gender, but if you're a grl you should consider Barnard. I'm going there next year and planning to major in political science. It's in NYC and has amazing IR internship opportunities with free housing during the summer! It also has cross-registration with Columbia (one of the best polisci departments in the world) and there's a 5 year (though very competitive) BA/MIA track with Columbia. Though it's urban, it definitely has an active campus life. And you have a good chance of getting in, considering your high stats.</p>
<p>bad1017: No, I am a guy so obviously that wouldn't work out.</p>
<p>I think I'll try University of Chicago. I looked around on the website and it seems very different from other schools but I liked it. Their whole Uncommon Application thing was cool too, I liked the questions.</p>